Wire bending fixture



SWG. BLUMENSAADT WIRE BENDING FIXTURE July 14, 1953 Original Filed Sept 2. 1947 INVENTOR.

' 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 I N V EN TOR. warms/Mar July 14, 1953 s. a. BLUMENSAADT v WIRE BENDING FIXTURE" Original Filed Sept. .2. 1947 1 156 wen/15a July 14, 1953 s. a. BLUMENSA'ADT 2,645,253

7 WIRE BENDING FIXTURE orrzml F1166 Sept. 2; 1947 4 sneetmoem a- INVENTOR. STE/VI E 840175034027 HTT'.

Patented July 14, 1953 WIRE BENDIN G FIXTURE Svend G. Blumensaadt, Beachwood Village, Ohio, assignor to The Universal Wire Spring Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio 1 Original application September 2, 1947, Serial No.

771,592. Divided and this application December 22, 1947, Serial No. 193,111

2 Claims. (Cl. 153-45) 1 This is a divisional application of my co-psnding application Serial No. 771,592, filed on September 2, 1947, for Method and Apparatus for Making Wire Springs from sinuous Wire Strips, and this invention relates in general to Wire bending fixtures and, more particularly, to wire bending fixtures designed to bend the ends of sinuously corrugated wire springs into a shape suitable for attachmentmembem of specific construction.

The primary object of the invention is the provision of a wire bending fixture for bending the laterally extendedstraight end portions of sinuously corrugated wire springs into specific attachment members, the fixture embodying wire spring supporting and guiding means, shiftable locating and holding means for locating and holding a wire spring in proper position on said supporting and guiding means, and axially rotatable wire bending means arranged to effect, by their axial rotation, bending of the laterally extended straight end portions of the wire spring into specific attachment means.

Another object of the invention is the provision 'of a wire bending fixture for bending the laterally extended straight end portions of sinuously corrugated wire springs into specific attachment sionof a wire bending fixture for bending the laterally extended straight end portions of sinuously corrugated wire springs to specific attachment members, the fixture embodying wire spring supporting and guiding means, locating and holding means for locating and holding a wire spring in proper position on said supporting and guiding means, and axially rotatable and axially shiftable' bending means arranged at an inclination with respect to the supporting means to effect, by axial rotation and simultaneous axial shifting of the wire bending means, bending of the laterally extended straight end portions of the wire spring into attachment members extended in a plane inclined to the plane of the wire spring.

Additional objects and novel features of construction c m in t n and relations of p s y 2 which the above and other objects in view have been attained, will appear and are set forth in detail in the course of the following specification.

The drawings forming part of the specification illustrate a certain practical embodiment of the invention, but it Will be apparent as the specification proceeds that the structure may be modified and changed in various ways without departure from the true spirit and broad scope of the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan View of a preshaped, sinuously corrugated Wire spring member having alaterally extended straight end portion.

Fig. 2 isa view similar to Fig. 1 with the preshaped, laterally extended straight end portion rebent to an attachment member extended in a plane inclined to the plane of the wire spring.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a wire bending fixture constructed in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 4 is a side view of the wire bending fixture shown in Fig. 3.

Fig, 5 is a front elevation of the wire spring guiding and supporting member of the wire bending fixture shown in Figs, 3 and 4; and

Fig. 6 is a front elevation of the wire bending fixture without the wire spring guiding and supporting member.

, Fig. 7 is an enlarged longitudinal. sectional view, partly in elevation, taken on line 1-7 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on lineB-B of Fig. 1. Fig. 9 is a sectional view, partly in elevation, through the shaft members supporting the forming and holding block and the forming head of the fixture, the shafts being shown in their position prior to wire bending operations;

Fig. 10 is an end view of Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 9 showing the shafts in their position at the end of wire bending operations; and

Fig. 12 is an end view of Fig. 11.

Referring now more in detail to the exemplified form of the invention shown in the drawings, the

. wire bending fixture 2 disclosed therein and designed to be attached to and operated by a punch press, not shown, embodies 'a housing '3 secured to a base plate 4. This housing has horizontally which 'is slidably mounted in shaft 5 and at its is mounted on a horizontal shaft 23 extended crosswise of housing 3. The second shaft II supports on its extended rear portion a compression spring 24 which is seated between rear wall I! and a washer 25 held on-shaft II byia pin 26. Spring 24 forces the second. shaft II yieldingly into engagement with the lever arm I4 of bell crank I5 as the yoke-shaped end portion 21. of lever arm I4 engages the pin 26'on shaft I I and; furthermore, spring 24 yieldingly forces roller on lever arm I9 of bell crank I5 into engagement with cam member 22. The horizontal shaft 23 is also extended outside of housing 3 and this shaft has its extended portion 28 mounted in an L- shaped bracket 29 attached to housing 3. The

1 extended portion 28 of shaft 23 mounts the cam member 22 which is thus freely exposed for cooperation with roller 26 on lever arm l9.

At the front end housing 3 of the wire bending fixture supports an angularly, adjustably supported guide member 33 constructed to guide an end portion of a sinuously corrugated wire spring at the desired angle to forming head I and holding and forming block I2. This guide member consists of parallel, spaced plates 3| and 32 pivotally connected by bracket members 33 and 34 to housing 3 and rigidly held in proper working position by adjustably mounted sup- 4 bracket 29. The lever 5| is shifted by a cam mechanism 53 which includes a cam member 54. This cam member is mounted on horizontal shaft 23 and cooperates with a .cam roller 55 mounted on lever 5|. The cam mechanism 53 includes a tension spring 60 connecting the end portion 6| of lever 5| with base plate 4 to yieldingly force roller 55 into engagement with cam member 54 and such mechanism is actuated in timed relation with respect to cam mechanism 2|, as cam members 22 and 54 are mounted on shaft 23,

which is adapted to be axially rotated by a rack bar55 meshinga gear 57 on said shaft.

The operation of the vertical slide 43, the axially 'shiftable horizontalshaft I I and the axially I rotatable horizontal shaft 5 is timed by cam mechanism 53 and 2| and by rack bar II) to form three definite movements during-each cycle of operation. Thus at the beginning of a wire bending and forming cycle, vertical slide 48 is actuated to properly locate and rigidly hold a spring 42 previously manually placed with one end portion into the guide member 36 opposite the forming head I of'shaft 5; then shaft I i is shifted by cam mechanism 2I toward the straight end 66 of wire 42, until such straight end rests in slot 3'! of holding and forming block I2 on shaft I I and, finally, shaft 5 is rotated by rack bar ID to wipe the straight end 66 of wire 42 by the protruding end portion 68 of rotating forming head 1 around the curved edge 89 of forming block I2, to give said end the desired shapelsee Figs. 9 through 12). To facilitate wiping operation, the protruding end portion 68 of head 1 includes a grooved pin I3, the groove ll of which is aligned with the end of wire 42 to guide such end dllllllgwiping and bending operations. The cycle of the wire bending fixture is completed when slide 48, shaft 5 and shaft II have returned to their starting positions, so that the fixture is ready for a new wire bending operation. To permit actuation of the wire bending fixture by the ram of a punch press, as previously stated, rack bars I6 and 56 are secured to a plate 62 (attached to the ram of the punch press, not shown) by means of stud bolts 63 and 64; and base plate 4is secured to a .7 plate 65 (attached to the bed of the punch press,

fixture includes wire locating and holding means a 43 which properly locate and hold a wire 42, manually inserted with its end portion between the spaced supporting and guiding plates 3| and 32 of guide member 30,.so as to substantially align the end portion of the wire with hollow shaft 5 adjacent to its forming head I. The locating and holding means 43.include a vertically shiftable slide 48 which rigidly supports a locater 44 and a locating and holding member 45, locater 44 consisting of a rod 46 having a lower cone shaped portion 41, and locating and holding member 1 consisting of a flat bar including at its lower end an inverted V-shaped slot 58 to provide the bar with prongs 53, 59'; adapted to shift and locate the wire prior to its rigid holding by member 45. The locater 44 and the locating and holding member 45 are adapted to locate'the wire with respect to forming head 6 of shaft 5 and forming and holding block i2 of shaft II and to securely hold the wire during wire forming operations as will be later described. The vertically shiftable slide 48 is slidably supported in the upper forwardly extended portion 49 of housing 3 and yieldingly forced upwardly by a compression spring 50. This slide is shifted downwardly by a lever 5| mounted on a shaft 52, which is journaled in the upper portion of housing 3 and the L-shaped not shown) so that operation of the punch press shifts the rack bars downwardly, effects actuation of slide 48 with locater 44 and locater and claim is:

1. In a wire bending fixture a housing, wire supporting means supported by said housing at one side thereof in inclined relation to a hori zontal plane through said housing, a tubular, horizontally arranged wire bending member axially rotatably supported in said housing and extended with one end through the wall thereof adjacent said wire supporting means, a shiftable, non-rotatable wire forming member including a supporting shaft arranged partly within said tubular 'wire bending member in coaxial relation with respect thereto, said wire forming and bending members having cooperating forming and bending end portions positioned adjacent said wire supporting means, and actuating means for said wire forming and bending members including mechanism adapted to actuate said members in timed relation with respect to each other.

5 2. A wire bendingfixture as described in claim 1, wherein said wire supporting means embodies parallel plates spaced from each other to provide a guiding channel for a, wire member, and .verti cally shiftable wire locating and holding means associated with said inclined wire supporting means and said actuating means and adapted to locate and hold in Wire bending operations a wire member in a predetermined position in the channel of said Wire supporting means.

SVEND G. BLUMENSAADT.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 413,666 Hill Oct. 29, 1889 Number Number Name Date Cooper Feb. 2, 1892 Deck Aug. 25, 1896 Grimes May 11, 1897 Criggal Aug. 16, 1898 Ayer Dec. 1, 1908 Hick July 25, 1916 LaCourse Apr. 8, 1919 Kuester Aug. 25, 1925 Smith May 4, 1926 Swangren Apr. 30, 1929 Horton May 30, 1939 Horton Jan. 30, 1940 Horton Nov. 13, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Germany Sept. 29, 1910 

